The university of miami proposes to fractionate normal mucus and analyze the fractions for dry weight of macromolecules and content of DNA, sugars, and amino acids. Since the gel-phase pucins are most significant in abnormal states, they will concentrate their efforts on the characterization of glycoproteins in this fraction. The characterization will include studies on molecular weights and intermolecular crosslinking. Purified fractions of glycoproteins will be further characterized in terms of ollgosaccharide structure, the type of the carbohydrate-protein linkage, and sequences of amino acids in peptides isolated after proteolysis. The carbohydrate portion of those glycoproteins is likely to be quite polydisperse, so a major emphasis is to investigate the protein quite intensively. It is anticipated that this work will require three years of effort and support.